


Dorky Drabbles

by felandaris



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angst, Awkwardness, Dancing, Flirting, Fluff, H.U.S.T.L, Humor, Jealousy, Pre-Relationship, and reyes is smooth, liam and jaal are bros
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-21 08:41:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10681725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felandaris/pseuds/felandaris
Summary: Shorts on Liam and Sara, the Galaxy's Dorkiest Couple (TM). Reyes, Jaal and others are certain to make appearances.





	1. Shades

**Author's Note:**

> Knowing myself, the rating is for future chapters.  
> [Find me, the Dragon Age boys and Liam on Tumblr! ](http://cullenstairshenanigans.tumblr.com)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyes flirts. Liam gets jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer: I do like Reyes! The negativity is all Liam's.**

 

“Never had a complaint.”

He’s smooth, that Vidal fella- throning on his tacky plush seat like some underworld king holding an audience.

And it’s working. Even standing two feet behind her he notices the way her head tilts, one hip sticking out. She’s muttering something, and he knows she’s blushing.

Liam’s jaw and fist clench, and he manages to keep a huff in. He ignores Jaal’s knowing glance, keeps staring dead ahead as if none of this was affecting him.

Which it shouldn’t. She’s allowed to flirt. Liam’s not gonna be the guy who makes a scene after a few nights of fun. _And the entire_ Krogan Conspiracy _anthology. And jokes no one but her has ever laughed at._

Vidal’s voice drops but judging from Sara’s melodic laugh he’s still sweet-talking, playing the charming rogue. _Who does he think he’s kidding?_ A long exhale keeps Liam’s blood pressure down- one of the more useful techniques from police training. It’s so effective, it even works when that sly bastard throws him the shortest, smuggest glance over Sara’s shoulder. Liam’s nails sting his palm through the gloves. Ignoring Jaal’s look again, he turns around, and for a second the room spins with him. At that moment the whole _establishment_ with its half-torn wallpapers, dull mirrors and apathetic faces seems to be laughing at him. Most of the scattered patrons, of course, are hardly aware of him, as their blank stares confirm, tinted purple in the dingy lighting that knows no time of day.

The exit is in sight- a promise of sun and escape; but he’s not getting off that easily, apparently.

“Liam?” Concern lingers in the one-word question.

The indistinguishable puddle before him doesn’t hold answers or advice, so he faces her. As he turns the last couple weeks flash by unbidden: beers and kisses; vids he remembers only by their conversations, _by her smile_ ; laughs and touches and little things he must have read way too much into.

When he opens his mouth, air thick with alcohol and armpits hits him. “Yeah?” He sounds calm, or so he hopes.

Sara’s flush betrays her fluster from the creepy flirtation. “Is everything okay?”

“Sure.” The lie tastes metallic. “You coming?” He starts walking. She’s mumbling, hurrying to catch up- and almost bumps into Liam when he stops in his tracks.

Staring at the sorry excuse for a dancefloor, barely more than a booth without tables, it takes him a moment realise what caught his attention.

Mixed in with the beat, all but drowning in the electronic staccato, sounds the riff of Saturday’s Turian thriller; the one where she’d nodded off, half-draped across him, and he’d sat there for an hour surrounded by her scent and warmth. Liam makes a decision.

He’s not going to be that guy. But he can be _her_ guy, even if just for one more song.

“Come here for a sec.”

“What-“ She’s so caught aback there’s no protest when he pulls her onto the filthy black-and-white tiles. She squints when the garish spotlights draw red and purple circles on her face.

Liam points upwards where he senses the speakers. “You hear this?”

Recognition flashes in her eyes but she’s shaking her head still, not getting what he wants. Holding out a hand, he nods. “Come on.”

“Liam, what-”

He could talk. Explain. Justify. For once he doesn’t. Instead he takes her by the wrist and starts moving. Left, right, back, and again.

The music blares over her incredulous chuckle as her hand finds his shoulder and smiles at him, for the first time since they came in here.

And so they dance.

Well, they try. Not that Liam has a clue what he’s doing. Or she, from the looks of it. Neither is leading, or following- both do their best to stay within the beat and move in the right direction.

But still, _they dance_. Sara’s smile widens with each uncoordinated side-step they master together, and looking at her melts the frustration off Liam like a scoop of ice cream on Elaaden.

Liam channels all the dance steps he remembers from vids, relieved he’s not, after all, the only human in who’s never had lessons. They settle into what rhythm they can make of the dull _boom-tish-boom-boom-tish_ , gaining a bit more confidence each time they avoid stepping on each other.

As they sway around, Liam feels a growing number of eyes on him. He hopes Vidal’s are among them. Arching an eyebrow, he lets go of Sara’s waist, extending his arm to twirl her. She allows him, and her squeal carries its own sweet tune. When he pulls her back against himself, closer than before, they’re both breathless, grinning like a pair of idiots ( _or maybe that’s just him._ )

As their eyes lock the riff fades, morphing into something even less danceable. They still, looking at each other. Again words threaten to burst out of him but Sara, Sara simply giggles. Their foreheads touch, like he’s come to enjoy so much, and he resists the urge to kiss her nose.

The moment passes and they break apart to face the room, Jaal and the rest of the day. Liam heads toward the exit in confident strides, stopping when Sara’s fingers seek his.

“That thing back there,” she nods towards Vidal’s corner, “that was stupid.”

Liam shrugs. Nonchalance suddenly comes easy. “Oh, _that_? I don’t mind, I-“

The grip on his hand tightens. “Well just know,” she leans in, standing on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. “It won’t happen again.”

She leaves him standing, grinning, to himself and then at Jaal, who nods and pats him on the shoulder as he walks by.

A week later they’re back. Sara cuts off Vidal’s attempt at flirting so sharply the shady arsehole doesn’t know what hit him.

When they leave she winks at him, and Liam smiles.


	2. A Memento

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam passes something on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was making the item in question as an accessory to me casual!Ryder cosplay that I started planning on top of all the cosplay stuff I'm already working on (I've been "working from home" SO much lately...)  
> You can find a photo[here](http://cullenstairshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/159978409448/liam-what-is-this-sara-gawked-at-the-unfolded).  
> Still no NSFW but it will be _coming_. (mature snigger)

“Liam, what _is_ this?” Sara gawked at the unfolded gift wrap.

“Have a look,” eager eyes followed her fingers’ progress as she picked up the flimsy steel ball chain. The thin metal plate fit into her palm, and wide eyes sought his when she recognised what she was holding.

“Is this your old H.U.S.T.L dog tag…?”

“Yes, Pathfinder.” Liam nodded, smiling.

Sara half-shook her head. “But-“

“See,” Liam interrupted, “the only time I ever got injured while with them was when I wasn’t wearing this. So I wanted to give it to you, you know,” he scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed, “for good luck. Turn it around,” he added before she could respond.

Complying, Sara gasped, biting her lip as she read the inscription on the back.

“S & L,” she slapped his chest. “You sappy old romantic.”

Liam’s grin spanned the entire width of his face ad he enclosed her in his arms. “Only since I met you, babe,” he pressed a kiss into her hair, “and that was the luckiest day of my life.”


	3. Things You Said That I Wasn't Meant To Hear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffbomb prompted on Tumblr

“It’s gotta be done _right_ though. Not _been there, seen that in twenty vids._ ”

Sara grins. She’s never been one to eavesdrop, but her boyfriend is inviting half the Tempest in on the conversation. Turning around a corner, she closes in on the meeting room where Liam and Jaal appear to be doing more _project research_.

“… you know, at least in human media, marriage proposals are so omnipresent and clichéd, it’s hard to make it special. But for her special is just good enough.”

The datapad hits the ground with a metallic clank as Sara freezes in her step, two feet away from the open door. Liam and Jaal turn around, stand on their heads in fact, _or perhaps that’s just her whole world spinning_.

“Babe,” Liam stammers, at a rare loss for words, “I-“

She’s shaking her head, feeling for her jaw, _because shouldn’t it hurt, having just hit the floor?_

“Liam, what are you doing?” That’s what she was going to say, except it comes out more like _gnnnnnnnnn_.

Frustration has him frowning, curling a fist by his side. “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” he rounds the table, broody stare searching the ground as Jaal watches silently. Sara’s pupils bounce up and down as she follows his snappy steps. She’s lucky there’s no flies around with how wide open her mouth is still hanging.

She manages a _hm?_ \- unintelligible even by her standards _-_ when Liam stops to look at Jaal. They exchange some silent bromantic communication, and Liam nods.

And then the room turns on itself again. As does her stomach. Or maybe it’s just being lifted by all the butterflies doing the rounds in there because now, right in front of her, Liam is sinking to the ground.

_On one knee._

“All right,” he fumbles in his pocket while her nostrils flare rather grotesquely, “my mouth really is an idiot, but third time’s the charm, right?”

Sara’s face must betray her cluelessness – _here’s a surprise_ -, and he elaborates. “After the victory I sort of blurted that out, and just then you walked in on us. So I might as well do it properly now.”

Liam’s smile sparkles. Though that could be the little box he was keeping in his pocket. The one sitting open in his palm now, displaying a giant diamond with a ring attached to it.

“Sara Ellen Ryder,” _that_ is _her name, yes?_   “We’ve known each other for a year, but it might as well have been my whole life.” She doesn’t dare breathe because, somehow, that might wake her up from the dream this clearly is.

 _And he’s still talking_. “Your smile lights up this whole damn galaxy.” She’ll take his word for it, though right now it’s Jaal’s grin she spots from the corner of her eye- _have his teeth always been this big?_

“… it’s you who makes this place my new home…” Coincidentally, Liam’s voice thickens with emotion just as her vision blurs with salty discharge. “… and who makes me complete.”

He takes her hand in his. Sara sobs.

“Will you be my wife?” Five words, five little syllables bursting with promise and sincerity. And she…

_… she does nothing._

“Sara…?” he asks eventually, her hand still in his even as his smile falters a little.

“Pathfinder?” Jaal adds, as if to rouse her from whatever trance she’s fallen into.

“Please.” _Is that her voice?_ “Please, yes.”

“Sara,” there’s tears in his eyes now too as he puts the ring on her finger, pausing to admire his handiwork. She gives it a good look, shaking her head as she marvels at the sheer sparkliness.

“Now get up, you jackjass,” she manages, humour granting her some semblance of control.

Or maybe not, for a second later she finds herself lifted up in the air, spun around, and again the other way, and she’s squealing, giggling. Somewhere in another universe Jaal is giving his congratulations, along with the rest of the crew who have appeared from out of nowhere.

But right now, Sara’s world only revolves around hugs, nose rubs and sloppy little kisses.

And Liam. Her fiancé.


End file.
